


you know i’m not holding my breath

by ElasticElla



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Background Relationships, F/F, Femslash February, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 14:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17768273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Emily creates the most ingenious trinkets, she is a kind soul- she cannot blame her daughter for loving a mortal so.It is far luckier than loving one as Katherine.





	you know i’m not holding my breath

**Author's Note:**

> title from when you’re ready by kate earl

They are a family on the run. Her, Annabelle, Katherine, Emily. Her daughter, lover, close friend. That Emily and Anna have fallen in love as well is as fortuitous as it is worrying. Witches do not live forever, and Anna does not wish to hear her words on the subject. Emily creates the most ingenious trinkets, she is a kind soul- she cannot blame her daughter for loving a mortal so. (Worse still, a mortal that will never deign to become one of them.)

It is far luckier than loving one as Katherine. 

For all that she is beautiful and mirthful, joyous and witty- she is a survivor even more than the rest of them. There is nothing she balks at to do so that they may continue. Whether that is killing an innocent or sending Pearl into a man’s arms for information. (They are simple creatures. Allow the townsmen to chase you, it never hurts to have an advantage my dear.)

There is no holding an easy, secret admiration of her either. Katherine knows her charms well, knew the very moment Pearl felt the first stirrings of something other than friendship. She had been a widow with little time for socializing, fighting to make ends meet and keep her daughter well and fed. Who could possibly blame her for falling for the beautiful woman who offered her an escape? A chance at a life of passion and adventure. That her hands may become soft again, never to tend another farm. 

It happened as she imagined. Pearl’s hands never saw another day of hard labor, and her daughter’s never knew a one. Being on the run with Katherine was sometimes nearly _too_ adventurous, but unthinkable to be removed from her orbit. In the lucky places, it is just the three of them- an odd, but charming, little family. Elsewhere, Katherine takes on other lovers, a bittersweet satisfaction under Pearl’s tongue that none of them ever join their traveling triplet. 

Katherine is spoiled and selfish, admits it easily. She gives and takes her heart just as easily, and Pearl is not such a fool to squander any time she is given. Theirs is a fragile love, it always has been. Pearl never knows if this will be the town that does it, or if Katherine will go on her own. (Something she’s been half-fearing since Katherine confessed those that are chasing her have gotten closer. There’s a reason she’s never seen Katherine cornered.)

It is no question of if Katherine would chose herself over Pearl, a tiny comfort that she would chose herself over anyone. (That so many are ready, willing, to lay down their life for her- and oh how she hopes those foolish Salvatore brothers will.)

There is no happy ending for her, Pearl has known this ever since she fell in love with a monster. (And what a gracious, beautiful, twisted monster she is with as many faces as laughs she has.) But her daughter will be happy, if only for a time. Her friend will be safe, if only until her years run out. And her lover, oh her lover, can survive anything the winds of fate try to batter her with. 

One day, perhaps she will tire of Katherine’s games, of her flights of fancy. Perhaps she will listen to her common sense and run far, far away from this town that knows too much. Perhaps she will escape. 

But tonight, Katherine is beckoning with a little smirk that speaks of kisses and bites, and Pearl can’t possibly resist her.


End file.
